MDT SPONSORED SHOOTER - THE 10TH CZECH MILITARY SNIPER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

A Guest Post by one of our sponsored shooters, Matti from Finland.

The 10th Military Sniper World Championship was held in Czech Republic on 22.-27. of April 2018. Competition was organized by the Czech Army 7th Mechanized brigade and was for military and police snipers, in active duty as well as members of military reserves. In competition was representatives at least from Czech Republic, Slovenia, France, United Kingdom, USA and Finland.

In competition there were over 20 different shooting stages and non-shooting stages. Shooting stages included shooting from 5 meters to 915 meters targets with pistol, SMG, assault rifle and sniper rifle in different positions and angles. Targets were different type of reactive targets and different paper targets. Distances were given or LRF was allowed to use during some stages and in some stages the distances were unknown. The close targets with sniper rifle were for example electric wire what had to be cut with bullet from 20 meters or sub MOA target that had to be shot under time stress. Long distance targets were reactive targets and they had to be engaged in small time window and 1st hit brought the most points. Shooting stages included also night shooting with help of illumination flares.

Among shooting targets were also different stages with moving targets from 10 meters with pistol to 550 meters with sniper rifle. Competition also included shooting stage from flying Mi-171S helicopter. Both team members had 4 rounds for 2 targets. Time to engage targets were 3 minutes and distance to targets was approximately 150 - 200 meters. Both team members shot on the same time from helicopter and we both got both targets down with 1st rounds!

Some shooting stages included use of several weapons as for example pistol and after that assault rifle or sniper rifle. In one stage competitors had to exit from APC that was hit by an IED and engage close targets with pistol and after that shoot 500m target with sniper rifle. Time was limited and range officers used smoke grenades to make visual obstacle in stage.

Non-shooting targets included different sniper tasks as spotting camouflaged sniper in designated area in 180 seconds. Our team made this in 34 seconds and was fastest team in competition.

In the competition there were 36 teams and 72 competitors. Our team was 14th and left behind many professional military sniper teams. Personal positions were Matti’s 26th and Sami’s 28th of 72. We received also nomination of 2nd best team in teamwork in competition.

Our team’s rifles were equipped with MDT ESS chassis an Minox ZP5 5-25x56 scopes. Even though my configuration was build around Tikka T3 action and Sami’s around Remington 700, they used the same Lapua ammunition with same ballistic charts, same reticle and clicks on the scope. This helped alot during team stages, where we could easily correct each other’s hits. Our clothing, uniform and hardshell jacket etc was provided by Varusteleka and load bearing equipment was from Savotta, both designing and manufacturing equipment surpassing military specifications.

We'd like to thank our sponsors and partners MDT, Lapua, Vihtavuori, Minox, Varusteleka, Viranomaiskeskus, Savotta! Thank you for supporting our team!